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| Sunday, 16 November 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Export development strategy receives final touches by Chanuka Mannapperuma The National Export Development Strategy for the period 2003-2008, formulated by the Export Development Board (EDB), will be presented to the Government before the end of this year, Chairman EDB, Ratna Sivaratnam told a recent symposium held to discuss the export strategy with stakeholders. He said the objective of the symposium was to obtain the views and the endorsement of all stakeholders on the issues outlined in the response paper and to agree on priorities of the national export strategy. The response paper was formulated based on the information gathered during several weeks of consultation with the core team. Sivaratnam was confident that the export sector has the potential to be the driving force behind sustained development as it has the ability to bring in foreign exchange to the country while providing jobs to the unemployed. He was of the view that for existing areas of competitive advantage, strategy should be focused on increased value addition and value retention while for new areas, strategy should focus on generating investment based competitive advantage and innovation as well as entrepreneurship based competitive advantage. Secretary, Ministry of Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion Ranjit Fernando said that the export strategy should focus more on micro issues which have a bearing on competitiveness at an individual company level, rather than macro level issues, which are already being addressed. These issues however, cannot be solved overnight, he cautioned. He said that interest rates will be brought down to a single digit very soon while all research organisations run by the Government will be handed to the private sector within the next five years. Some leaders from the export sector said the strategy should deal with the main issues affecting them such as power and land. Former President, Vegetables and Fruits Exporters Association, Sarath de silva said as a result of the delay in releasing land for agricultural projects, over 600 poly tunnel projects are on hold. |
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